Repeat device for automatic phonographs



June 21, 1949. s. A. STOLBERG 2,473,829

REPEAT DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC PHQNOGRAPHS Filed April 25, 1945 sSheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Sven4\.61ol berg,

s. A. STOLBERG REPEAT DEVICE FOR'AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHS June 21, 1949.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1945 INVENTOR. Svenfi. stolbgr BYfiJune 21, 1949. s. A. STOLBERG REPEAT-DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHS 5Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 25, 1945 WELDABLE 57 MA TERI/1L INVENTOR.Sven -A- Srol berg,

Patented June 21, 1949 UNITED STATES em OFFICE.

REPEAT DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHS Application April 23, 1945,Serial No. 589,756

Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in record-changingphonographs, and the like, especially of that type in: which the recordsare. automatically released from the bottom of a stackv supported abovethe. turntable. Such release is.

effected by a slight projection of. a finger or lug inwardly towards theturntable center-post, .such finger pressing against the edge .of thelowermost. record of the stack to release the record from a shoulder onthe center-post, by which. shoulder the recordsare supported. "Suchgeneral schemes for record'release are well known in 'thisart, and. oneembodiment of such scheme is. disclosed in my co-pendingapplication forLetters Patent for improvements in Record-changing phonographs, and thelike, Serial No. 576,202, filed February 5, 1945, and assigned to the.same assignee as the. present application.

In the disclosure of that co-pending application the. inward. movementsof the finger or lug are effected by reciprocation of a verticallyextending rock-arm which extends up through the stand: which carries thelug or finger itself. These recip rocations are effected in turn byspring; force transmitted to the rock-arm, which rock-arm .is releasedwhen the record release is to occur; and this release. of the rock-armis controlled by the movement of the control cam which determines the.cyclic sequence ofthevarious operations incl-- dent tov record change.Due to the fact that the actual reciprocation. of the rock-arm. iseffected by spring. force when such rock-arm is released, it follows:that by blocking the rock-arm the reciprocation is prevented, and theinward movement. or the record feeding fingeror lug is prevented; andthus; repeating of the playing of the record previously played iseffected.

In said application, Serial No. 576,202 referred to above. I havedisclosed means for blocking the movement of the rock-arm to effectrepeating, and when so; blocked the other parts which act under cameoperation are permitted to function without interference due to suchblocking, by rea-- son of the. fact that the movement of therock-arm is.normally effected by spring force. when. the rock-arm release devicefunctions The. blocking device of said. earlier application includes. arotatable or rockableelement in thestand which when inonenormal.position does not interfere with the rock-arm swings, but when in aturned position does effect the desired interference.

The present invention concerns. itself especially with a differentmeans. for. shooting the blocking of the rock-arm for repeat purposes;and comprisesgenerically a device which may be: shifted up and downwith'respect to the stand, and with respect to the rock-arm itself. Whenthis device is in one position it does not interfere with the rocking ofthe rock-arm; and when in another position this device blocks therock-arm movements. One feature of my present invention relates to thisblocking device and to the manner in which it is mounted or supported onthe rockarm element.

Sometimes it is desirable to provide a presser arm or device on theupper portion of the stand, which presser arm when in one positionexerts a spring pressure of desired amount on the top record of theunplayed stack, and additionally controls: the smooth feeding anddelivery of the records to the stack on the turntable. This presser armmay be swung up and outwardly away from the stack of unplayed records,or from the top face of the stand, to facilitate removal of played rec-.ords, or placement of fresh records into the record player. Sincev thispresser arm lies over the upper .end of the stand when said presser armis] in working position, the'blocking device whereby. repeating iseffected must bear such a relation to this presser armv that there willvbe no improper interference between these two parts in any position. ofeither oithem; and this is a further feature and object of my presentinvention.

Other features and objects of the present invention will appear from a.detailed description of the same, which consists in the features ofconstruction, and combinations of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of atypical recordchanger phonograph,provided with a stand in one corner for supporting the. edge portions ofthe stack of unplayed records, the central portions of the records ofsuch stack being supported by the shoulder on the center-post; and. thisfigure shows the presser arm provided-with an opening through which theblocking device extends upwardly for 5a Figure. 3 shows an elevation of.the corner postwhich supports and feeds. the edge portions of the vunplayed records this figure being on enlargedscale as compared toFigures 1 and 2; and Figure. 3 being a view looking. directly back fromthefront face of the rectangular housing of the. record changer, so thatFigure 3 shows the post actually in 45 degree perspective;

Figure 4 shows an elevation of the corner post at 45 degrees withrespect to the view of Figure 3, the upper portion of the post andcertain parts, being shown in section;

Figure 5 shows a plan view of the post assembly, on enlarged scale ascompared to Figure 1, the presser plate being in lowered or normalposition;

Figure 6 shows a bottom or inverted view corresponding to Figure 5;

Figure 7 shows a detailed fragmentary section on the line 1'! of Figure8', looking in the direc tion of the arrows; and

Figure 8 illustrates the action of certain members of Figure 4.

By way of illustration the turntable is shown at H] in Figure 1, and itsdownwardly extending flange is shown at II in Figure 2. The tone arm 12is shown as being pivoted to swing about the vertical axis l3 (Figures 1and 2), and raising and lowering of the tone arm are effected by risingand lowering movements of the pin l4 (see Figure 2). The one-cycle camis shown at 15, rotating on the vertical axis l6; and turntable drive iseffected by the friction drive from the motor shaft IT to the idlerwheel l8, and thence to the turntable flange l I. Cyclic operation ofthe cam l5 may be effected by the friction wheel chain including thefriction wheels l9 and 20, the wheel I9 being carried by the swingingarm 2i so that said wheel may be brought to bear against the frictionwheel l8; and the axis 22 of the Wheel 29 carrying a pinion which willdrive a suitable gear on the periphery of the cam element l5. Release ofsuch one-cycle drive is effected by the shouldered cam 23 carried by theaxis l6, said shouldered cam serving to engage a pin 24 which will drawthe arm 2| over at completion of the one-cycle rotation, thuswithdrawing the friction wheel l9 from the wheel l8. The details of sucha drive are disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 576,202,mentioned above, and need not be further described here.

The one-cycle cam l5 carries a pin or stud 25 so that said stud makesone revolution about the axis l6 during the one-cycle movement of theparts.

Concentric with the turntable axis is the upstanding center pin 26 whichis provided with the shoulder 2'! on which the central portion of thelowermost record of the unplayed stack rests prior to release of suchlowermost record for descent to the top of the played records resting onthe turntable. Normally such lowermost unplayed record is slightlyeccentrically supported with respect to the turntable axis, so that suchsupport on said shoulder 2'! will be effected; and when it is desired torelease such lowermost record, said record is shifted slightly bypressure against its edge to move it into concentricity with theturntable centerpost. Furthermore the edge portion of such lowermostunplayed record is normally supported so that it will remain properly inposition above the stack of records on the turntable and withoutinterference with such turntable stack. Such edge support is effected bythe stand, and the slight lateral shift for record feed is effected bymeans carried by or constituting a portion of such stand. Reference toFigures 3, 4, 5, 6 and '7 shows the details of construction of thisstand and its parts.

Conveniently the stand or vertical post comprises a hollow slightlytapered body 28 of suitable external design, and which stand is securedto the top face of the housing 29 by means of screws 30 reaching upthrough said top face into suitable sockets 3! in the lower portion ofthe stand. To the top of this housing is secured a plate 32 which hasthe slotted or grooved depression 33 extending radially with respect tothe axis of turntable rotation. Within this groove there is placed thefinger or lug 34 which may therefore be reciprocated radially asufficient distance to effect the necessary displacement of the bottomrecord of the unplayed stack to cause said record to be shifted fromsupport and allowed to descend to the top of the stack of played recordssupported on the turntable. This finger or lug is held in place in saiddepression by means of the elements 35 which have their edge portionsslightly overlying the edges of the finger or lug in manner similar tothat disclosed in my aforesaid co-pending application, Serial No.576,202.

The top plate 32 is also provided with the side extensions 36 and 31upon which the edge of the lowermost unplayed record rests, so that theslight inward displacement effected by the inward radial movement of thefinger 34 will shift the records edge away from these projections andpermit record descent. It is of course noted that the finger 34 lies inplanar alignment with the edge of the record so that it is able toperform its function.

Extending vertically through the body 28 of the stand is the rock-arm38. This rock-arm is pivoted for rocking movement on the transverse pin39 extending into the walls of the stand about midway of its height.This rock-arm reaches down through a slot 40 in the housing 29 to aposition where it may be engaged by one arm 4| of a bell-crank 42pivoted at 43 to the housing. The other arm 44 of said bell-crank isnormally drawn back against a stop pin 45 carried by the housing, bymeans of a spring 46, so that when said spring is permitted to effectsuch complete movement to bring the arm 44 against the stop pin 45, therock-arm 38 is swung to move its lower end its maximum distance towardsthe axis of rotation of the cam element l5. Said cam element l5 carriesthe stud 25 which at the proper time in the cyclic rotation of the camserves to swing the bell-crank 42 against the force of the spring 46,thus carrying the arm 4| of the bell-crank out far enough to permitswinging of the rock-arm 38 sufficiently to ensure the record feedpresently to be described. A spring 41 connects the bell-crank arm 41 tothe lower end of the rock-arm 38, so that normally said rock-arm 38 willfollow the swing of the bell-crank arm and effect a record feed; but incase the rock-arm 38 should be blocked against swinging, as by the meansto be presently described, the bell-crank can nevertheless rock underimpulse of the stud 25 without damage, the spring 41 extending, but norecord feeding action occurring.

The upper portion of the rock-arm 38 extends through a suitable openingof the finger 34 so that swinging or pivotal movement of the rockarm isproperly communicated to such finger for feeding purposes. Likewiseblocking of the rockarm effects locking of said finger against radialmovement.

Slidingly mounted on the upper portion of the rock-arm 38 is the fingerpiece 48. This finger piece conveniently comprises a molded unit havingmolded therein the L-shaped member 49 so that said member 49 rises andfalls with the finestates gerjpieca member Aitiit horizontallegadantedtoamove back, and forth free of. ob.- .S mction. when the fingerpiece-is in lowered position tas; shown in Figure 14 but by raising saidfinger piece slightly said lug is brought to an elenation where; it willlock against a.;Proiectionor stop surface 5! of the top plate 3.2. toPrevent teed-mg movement. oi the rock-arm; it: being noted that whenthoracic-arm is-in normal or no,n-.-felidin-g position (as shownin-Figure 4') said finger piece can be raised to the elevation shown, inF-igule- .-8;,, said leg 5d rising to a position directly behind saidstop surface 51, so that, thereafter, andas long astthe finger piece isin such. raised position. the rock-arm is. blockedv against rockingmovements. Then, when ,SO,1QCk&d,. any rotation of theone-cycle cam will.cause the bell-crank arm M toswi-ng, but the spring .41 will. yield andallow the rock-arm to. remain unrocked and with,- outant' record feed,

.A spring of. leaf type 52 isinserted between the upper portion oftherock-arm. and the socket of the finger piece behind the.L-shapedelement 49 to ensure sufiicient friction between the fingerpiece and therock-arm so. that said, finger piece will remain in raisedposition when once so raised. Conveniently said finger piece is markedto indicate its function, as shown in- Figure 3...

The top plate. 32 is provided with ;a pair of upstanding .ears, 153 and54 tov which is pivoted .a. presser plate. 55 which has the finger 56-extending radially inwardly towards. the axis of the turntable; and.said finger is provided, with the yieldable or soft lug .51 whichpresses against the top surface of the top record of the unplayed stack,ofrecordsl. Saidpresser platehas the. limit heel- 5,8 which willvengage the upper rear portion of, thestand. or the top plate when thepresser plate is fully rocked over as shown by the arrows in Figure .4;but it. will be noted that when so raised and. swung. over, this presserplate completely exposes the. upper portion of the stand. A slot 59 isprovided in said presserplate to accommodate. the finger piece 48, saidslot being long enough to allow for full raising movement of the presserplate without interference from the finger piece, even when said fingerpiece is raised to block the record-feeding operation.

A spring 88 is provided for exerting a suitableamount of spring pressureon the presser plate to normally hold said plate in the position shownin Figure 4.; but when said presser plate is fully railsedysai'd springwill act to retain the presser plate in such-raised P sition, thespring-being so connected to the presser plate, and being so supportedby the top plate of the stand, that said spring acts with a toggleaction, reversing its force as the presser plate is moved past the deadcenter position of the spring.

I claim:

1. In a record changing phonograph, a turntable, a centering pinextending upwardly from said turntable including a shoulder to support arecord eccentrically on said centering pin above said turntable, meansfor shifting said record laterally to bring it into concentricity withsaid centering pin and to release said record from said shoulder so itmay fall onto said turntable comprising a vertical post adjacent saidturntable, means on. the upper portion of said post to support theperipheral edge portion of said record when said record is eccentricallymounted on said centering pin and supported on said shoulder, saidlast-mentioned means being of such a size and positioned so as to befree of said record when.

said. record isxfihiftfid laterally so as to be concerntrio withsaidcentering pin, a finger positioned at-zthe npper portionoi said post andmovable on a radial line interconnecting said centering pin and saidpost, said finger being adapted to engage the peripheral edge .of saidrecordand move said record in a directionto release it from saidshoulder, movable means associated with said finger for positivelymoving, said finger radially outward from said centering pin, yieldablemeans tending to move said fingerin the other direction, mcans ror,efiecting. movement of said movable means during a. record changingcycle of. said phonograph, and manually operable means for'blockingmovement of said finger radially inward toward. said ,centerinpin regardless of the movement. .oi. said movable. means comprising amember movable in a, direction substantially parallel with the axis ofsaid post.

2. In a. record changing phonograph,v a turntable, a. centering, pinextending upwardly from said. turntable including a. shoulder to supporta record eccentrically on said centering pin above said turntable, meansfor shifting said. record laterally to bring it into concentricity withsaid centering pin and? to release said record from said shoulder .so itmay fall onto said turntable comprising. a vertical post adjacent saidturntable, means on the upper portion of said post to support theperipheral edge portion of said record when said record is eccentricallymounted on said centering pin and supported on said shoulder, saidlast-mentioned means being of such a size and positioned so. as to befree of said record when said record isv shifted laterally so as to beconcentric. with. said centering pin, a finger positioned at the upperportion of said post and movable along a radial" line interconnectingsaid centering pin and said post, said finger being adapted to engagethe peripheral edge of said rec'- ord and move said record in adirection to 'release it from said shoulder, a lever associated withsaid finger disposed within said post and extending in .a directiongenerally parallel with the axis of said post, means for positivelymoving said lever to cause-said finger to move radially outward iromsaid centering pin, yieldable means tending" to-movesaid lever and saidfinger 'm the other direction, said means for positively movingsaidlever being operative-during a record changing cycle of saidphonograph, and man-,- uall y operable means for blocking movement ofsaid finger radially inward-toward said centering pi-n regardless-oithe'movement of said means for positively moving said lever comprising amomber slidably mounted on the upper end of said lever.

3. In a record changing phonograph, a turntable, a centering pinextending upwardly from said turntable including a shoulder to support arecord eccentrically on said centering pin above said turntable, meansfor shifting said record laterally to bring it into concentricity withsaid centering pin and to release said record from said shoulder so itmay fall onto said turntable comprising a vertical post adjacent saidturntable, means on the upper portion of said post to support theperipheral edge portion of said record when said record is eccentricallymounted on said centering pin and supported on said shoulder, saidlast-mentioned means being of such a size and positioned so as to befree of said record when said record is shifted laterally so as to beconcentric with said centering pin,

a presser arm pivotally mounted on said post and.

having an opening therein, a finger positioned at the upper portion ofsaid post and movable on a radial line interconnecting said centeringpin and said post, said finger being adapted to engage the peripheraledge of said record and move said record in a direction to release itfrom said shoulder, movable means associated with said finger forpositively moving said finger radially outward from said centering pin,yieldable means tending to move said finger in the other direction,means for effecting movement of said movable means during a recordchanging cycle of said phonograph, and manually operable means forblocking movement of said finger radially inward toward said centeringpin regardless of the movement of said movable means comprising a memberextending through said opening in said presser arm and movable in adirection substantially parallel with the axis of said post.

4. In a record changing phonograph, a turntable, a centering pinextending upwardly from said turntable including a shoulder to support arecord eccentrically on said centering pin above said turntable, meansfor shifting said record laterally to bring it into concentricity withsaid centering pin and to release said record from said shoulder so itmay fall onto said turntable comprising a vertical post adjacent saidturntable, means on the upper portion of said post to support theperipheral edge portion of said rec-0rd When said record iseccentrically mounted on said centering pin and supported on saidshoulder, said last-mentioned means being of such a size and positionedso as to be free of said record when said record is shifted laterally soas to be concentric with said centering pin, a finger positioned at theupper portion of said post and movable along a radial lineinterconnecting said centering pin and said post, said finger beingadapted to engage the peripheral edge of said record and move saidrecord in a direction to release it from said shoulder, a leverassociated with said finger disposed within said post and extending in adirection generally parallel with the axis of said post, means forpositively moving said lever to cause said finger to move radiallyoutward from said centering pin, yieldable means tending to move saidlever and said finger in the other direction, said means for positivelymoving said lever being operative during a record changing cycle of saidphonograph, and manually operable means slidably mounted on the upperend of said lever including an L- shaped member adapted to cooperatewith said post to block the operation of said finger and lever when saidL-shaped member is in a predetermined position whereby the phonographoperates to repeat the playing of the record on said turntable.

5. In a record changing phonograph, a turntable, a centering pinextending upwardly from said turntable including a shoulder to support arecord eccentrically on said centering pin above said turntable, meansfor shifting said record laterally to bring it into concentricity withsaid centering pin and to release said record from said shoulder so itmay fall onto said turntable comprising a vertical post adjacent saidturntable, means on the upper portion of said post to support theperipheral edge portion of said record when said record is eccentricallymounted on said centering pin and supported on said shoulder, saidlast-mentioned means being of such a size and positioned so as to befree of said record when said record is shifted laterally so as to beconcentric with said centering pin, a finger positioned at the upperportion of said post and movable along a radial line interconnectingsaid centering pin and said post, said finger being adapted to engagethe peripheral edge of said record and move said record in a directionto release it from said shoulder, a lever associated with said fingerdisposed within said post and extending in a direction generallyparallel with the axis of said post, means for positively moving saidlever to cause said finger to move radially outward from said centeringpin, yieldable means tending to move said lever and said finger in theother direction, said means for positively moving said lever beingoperative during a record changing cycle of said phonograph, a moldedmanually operable finger piece slidably mounted on the upper end of saidlever, and an L-shaped member fastened to said finger piece which whenin one predetermined position blocks the movement of said lever andfinger to cause said record to move onto said turntable.

SVEN A. STOLBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the of thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,938,810 Collison et a1 Dec. 12,1933 2,237,340 Downs Apr. 8, 1941

